B ALLATER

BALLATER adopted the Lindsay Act in 1891, and under the Burgh Police Act of the following year took for the Common Seal of the Burgh an adaptation of the Coat of Arms of the Farquharsons of Invercauld, who are the superiors. These Arms are as follows : First and fourth quarters, or, a lion rampant, gules ; second and third quarters, argent, a fir tree growing out of a mount in base fructed proper, and on a chief gules the Royal Banner of Scotland displayed on a canton of the first, a hand issuing from the sinister side holding a dagger point downwards proper. The Seal of the Burgh bears simply on a shield in the centre, the lions in the first and fourth quarters, and the fir trees in the second and third quarters. Beneath is the motto of the family, "Fide et Fortitudine" and in the margin is the date, 1901, when the Seal was made. The lions probably represent the Scottish Lion, and in all likelihood were taken from the Scottish Standard, which the then chief of the Farquharson family, Finlay Mohr, carried at the battle of Pinkie, where he was killed, and was buried in the churchyard at Invercauld. This Finlay Mohr, or Findla More, was a man of immense size and strength, and claimed to be descended from one Shaw M'Duff, who was a younger son of the Thanes of Fife. This Shaw M'Duff had a son called Farquhar, who, in 1371, settled down in the district of Mar, and his sons took the surname o{ Farquharson, being the sons of Farquliar, which custom was very common at that early time. It is, however, probable that King Robert the Bruce gave the family the right to carry the lion as well as the hand and dagger, on account of their services in expelling the Cummins from Badenoch.

The fir tree is the badge of the Clan Farquharson, as " In the forests of Inver-

cauld and Braemar," says Sir T. D. Lauder, " the endless fir woods run up all the ramifications and subdivisions of the tributary valleys, cover the lower elevations, climb the sides of the higher hills, and even in many cases approach the very roots

of the giant mountains which tower over them," and thus the fir or pine, emblematic

of Daring, is a fit badge for the sturdy clan who had their home in these mountainous recesses of the north. —

BANFF

TRADITION asserts that Malcolm Canmore had a residence at Banff, and Malcolm IV. signed a charter there in 1163. In 1164 a charter of William

the Lion alludes to it as a Royal Burgh, and Robert the Bruce confirmed this charter in 1324. In Scottish history Banff is hardly mentioned. As the town

is situated in a part of the ancient thanedom of Boyne, which derived its name from the high conical hill in the neighbourhood of Cullen, called the Binn Hill, it is considered probable that the name of the town, which in some old charters is spelled Boineffe and Baineffe, was taken from the name of the thanedom. The old Seal of Banff showed a boar, and a likely explanation of this may be found in the fact that in ancient times the parish of Banff was thickly wooded, and in this forest, wild boars abounded, and were, no doubt, important objects of the chase. The existence of this forest has been traditionally handed down in the

following couplet : " From Culbtrnie to the sea, You may step from tree to tree."

The Seal now used by the Burgh shows the Virgin Mary with the Holy Child in her arms, she being the patron saint. At one time there was a large monastery of the Carmelites or White Friars here, which was dedicated to the Virgin Mary,

and which is supposed to have been founded in the reign of Alexander III., but the

first grant respecting it on record is dated "apud Sconam i mo die Aug. 1324," confirming, etc. " Dio, beata; Mariae Virgini, et religiosis fratribus ordinis de Monte Carmelite, capellam beata; Maria; juxta villam de Banff," etc. The Carmelites derived their origin and name from Mount Carmel, and claimed

as their founder the prophet Elijah, who had his abode on the mount. It is said that a succession of devout hermits inhabited Mount Carmel from the days of Elijah, and that they early embraced the Christian faith, and forming themselves into a community, built a monastery on the mount, and an oratory, which they dedicated 26 THE TOWN COUNCIL SEALS OF SCOTLAND

to the Virgin, as they had chosen her for their protectress, and who was thenceforth called " Our Lady of Mount Carmel." The Order was early introduced into Britain, and previous to that the members had worn a mantle of red and white stripes, which tradition alleged were the colours of the mantle of Elijah, but Pope Honorius IIL appointed their garb to be white, and thenceforth in Britain the Carmelites were called White Friars. The same Pope ordained them to be called " The Family of the Most Blessed Virgin," and they assumed as their Arms a representation of the Virgin and Our Lord elevated on a temple, with the figure of a Carmelite in his robes kneeling below. The motto, "Omne bonum Dei donum" was granted to the Burgh by the Lord Lyon King at Arms as recently as 1897. BANCHORY

BANCHORY takes its name from the Gaelic beinn geur, meaning a sharp or pointed hill. The town adopted the Lindsay Act in 1885. For the Common Seal rendered necessary under the Burgh Police Act of 1893, a combination of the Coats of Arms of the three proprietors holding land within the burgh was made. The Seal thus bears three shields. The first shield bears

the Arms of Burnett of Leys : three holly leaves in chief, and a hunting horn in base garnished. The second shield bears the Arms of Burnett-Ramsay of Banchory

Lodge and Arbeadie : on one side, the Arms of Burnett of Leys, as above ; on the other side, the Arms of Ramsay of Balmain, viz., an eagle displayed, beaked and membered, charged on the breast with a rose. [In the Seal, however, the latter feature, viz., the rose, does not appear.] The third shield bears the Arms of David- son of Inchmarlo, viz., two pheons or arrow-heads in chief, and one in base, between them a fess bearing a buck couchant. We are told that King Robert the Bruce, when Earl of Carrick, had as his private badge three, or three bunches of laurel or holly leaves (called by Sir George Mackenzie Hollin leaves, because, as he says, with these, temples, altars, and other holy places were wont to be adorned), the supporters being two savages wreathed, and the motto, Sub sole, sub umbra virens. King Robert granted the lands of Leyis, by charter of 1324, to one Alexander Burnard, who seems to have been the first custodian of the Forest of Drum, and who in all probability obtained the right to carry the holly leaves from the king. The late George Burnett, LL.D., Lyon King of Arms, in " The Family of Burnett of Leys," says, " The reign of Robert the Bruce is the period when the Burnards (afterwards Burnetts) began first to be connected with Aberdeenshire. The Saxon family of Burnard, which flourished in England before the Conquest, were the progenitors of the first Alexander Burnard who settled on Deeside." As this family had charge of the Forest of Drum, they carried a hunting horn to show that they were the king's foresters in the north, and thus 28 THE TOWN COUNCIL SEALS OF SCOTLAND we have the horn on their Arms. Dr Burnett says that the Leys Hunting Horn was sometimes called the Leys tenure horn, and he gives a full-size illustration of " it, and describes it thus : It is made of ivory, fluted, with four bands of gilt round it, the two centre ones containing a carbuncle and three pieces of transparent crystal. Attached to it is a scarf or baldric of green silk, tasseled, apparently of the time of Charles II. There is no documentary history of the horn, nor any allusion to it in any of the charters. All that is known of it is that it has been from time immemorial in the possession of the family, and is believed to be a badge of office as forester or a horn of service." Dr Burnett goes on to say that " it seems reasonable enough to believe that the tradition regarding the origin of the

' horn of Leys ' is founded on fact, and that it is a horn of service. The Arms show that the family were connected with the Forest of Drum, and the horn may have been the instrument of sasine to the lands of Leys." Sir Thomas Burnett of Leys registered these Arms as they now are in 1673. Nisbet tells us that the eagle borne by those of the surname of Ramsay was

adopted because they originally came from Germany ; and regarding those of the surname of Davidson, he simply mentions that they carry azure on a fess argent between two pheons or, a buck coucliant, gules. —

BARRHEAD

BARRHEAD came under the provisions of the Burgh Poh'ce Act of 1892 in 1894, and under that Act adopted as a Common Seal the following, said to

be an adaptation from the Coat of Arms of the Stuarts of Darnley : A shield divided into four. The first and fourth quarters bear three Fleur-de-lis for Aubigny, which were part of the Coat of Arms of the old Dukedom of Lennox. The second and third quarters each bear three hearts, each heart surmounted by a cross. Over all in an escutcheon is the Coat of Arms of the ancient Earldom of Lennox, viz., a saltire engrailed between four roses. The supporters are two wolves, and above is a bull's head crowned, which in the Darnley Coat of Arms breathes fire. Beneath, in place of the Darnley motto Avant Darjiley, is the motto adopted by the Town Council, " Virtute et Lahore"

The Earldom of Lennox is of great antiquity, and the title is said to have been first conferred by Malcolm IV. on one Alwyn M'Arkyll, who was the son of a Saxon baron of Northumbria who had fled from the vengeance of the Normans, but

Nisbet says the title was first conferred by William the Lion. The origin is uncertain, but in any case a long line of descendants succeeded, the males of which

terminated in Duncan, Earl of Lennox, who was executed on the return of James I. from England. This Duncan had three daughters, one of whom, Elizabeth, married Sir John Stewart of Darnley in 1392, and their grandson John, Lord Darnley, was served heir to his great-grandfather in 1473. A dispute arose between this Lord Darnley and his cousin Sir James Haldane for the title of Lennox, which terminated in favour of the former, and he, having assumed the title, sat in Parliament as Earl of Lennox in 1474. In 1581, Esme, Lord of Aubigny, one of the Darnley family, was created Duke of Lennox. In 1641 the fourth Duke of Lennox was created also Duke of Richmond. The sixth Duke of Lennox and fourth Duke of Richmond died without issue in 1672, and the Dukedom devolved upon King Charles II. as nearest colateral heir-male, he being descended from Flenry, Lord Darnley, husband of Queen Mary. King Charles then conferred the Dukedom upon his natural son Charles, by the Duchess of Portsmouth, thus giving him the right to bear the Royal Arms of King Charles II., of which the Fleur-de-lis for France were part. The three hearts in the second and third quarters have by some means been

substituted for the Stewart Arms, which are : Or, a fess cheque argent and azure.

From whence these hearts have been obtained I have been utterly unable to ascer- 30 THE TOWN COUNCIL SEALS OF SCOTLAND tain. This Seal seems to have been prepared in a most perfunctory manner. An excerpt from Crawford's " History of Renfrewshire," dealing with the Arms of the House of Darnley, was given to a local printer with instructions to prepare a Seal according to the description. How the local printer managed to mix up a fess cheque with three hearts is a mystery. The Lennox Cross, as mentioned under Clydebank, was adopted by an ancestor of the family who had made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

Barrhead is situated in that part of the county of Renfrew which, along with others, is still known as the " Lennox," from having been in possession of the Earls of that name. Originally the name was Leven-ach, meaning " the field of the Leven," which included, besides the basin of the river, Loch Lomond, which in former days was called Loch Leven. In time the name came to be Levenachs, afterwards Levenax, and eventually became corrupted into Lennox. BATHGATE

IN 1824 Bathgate was made a Burgh of Barony, and in 1865 adopted the Lindsay Act. The origin of the name is difficult to trace, and it seems impossible to ascertain its meaning. In the year 131 5 an important event took place which ultimately gave us our present Royal Family. King Robert the Bruce in that year gave his daughter Marjory — "the lass who brought the sceptre into the Stewart's house" — in marriage to Walter, the hereditary High Steward of Scotland, which union gave heirs to the Scottish throne, and eventually to the throne of the United Kingdom. Walter Steward occupied Bath- gate Castle, which then became the seat of the Lord High Stewards of Scotland, as the Castle of Dunoon had been formerly, and he received the lands in its vicinity as the dowry lands of Marjory Bruce. At one time a marsh seems to have surrounded the castle, and though hardly a vestige of the latter now remains, in the year 1845 there could be seen some traces of the causeways by which access was had to it through the marsh. Bathgate, therefore, under the Burgh Police Act of 1892, adopted a representa- tion of Bathgate Castle, with three flags flying, each bearing the Scottish Lion rampant, as its Common Seal, with the motto " Commune bonum intra muros" (Com- munity of goods within the walls). Thus the Burgh may justly pride itself upon being the cradle of British Royalty. BERVIE OR INVERBERVIE

KING David II. is said to have landed here on 4th June 1342, after having escaped from a storm at sea on his return from France, and in gratitude for the kindness which he received from the inhabitants, he granted a charter erecting the town into a Royal Burgh. The place where he landed is still known as Craig David. James VI. renewed its charter in 1595. The town takes its name from the river at the mouth of which it is situated.

" " ' The New Statistical Account " says : According to Chalmers in his Caledonia,' the water of Bervie derives its name from the British bei-u (to flow), berw, herwy (a boiling or ebullition). This etymology corresponds exactly with the character of the stream."

The Seal of the Burgh is a rose, and it has been conjectured that the King bestowed this emblem upon the town as a compliment to the nationality of his Queen, who was the sister of Edward III. of England. The late Marquis of Bute mentions that on one occasion King David appeared at a tournament at Windsor covered with roses, which seemed to have been a favourite flower with him. Another explanation given of the origin of this Seal is that the rose was taken from the Arms of the Scott's of Balwearie, one of whom having obtained the lands of Benholm at Inverbervie, changed his family crest to a lion holding a rose in his paw. B I G G A R

into free Burgh Barony by II. in and BIGGAR was erected a of James 145 1, it adopted the Lindsay Act in 1863. Under the Burgh Police Act of 1892 the Common Seal was formed as follows: A shield divided into three. In the two upper divisions are shown a plough and a sheaf of barley representing the agricultural character of the district. In the lower division there is a goat's head, which was the crest of the Flemings of Biggar. The first of this family is said to have come from Flanders about the year 1 140, and to have taken the surname of Fleming. Sir Robert Fleming was one of the patriots who supported Robert the Bruce, and never left him until he was crowned king, for which services he received great rewards. His second son married the heiress of Sir Simon Fraser of Oldver Castle in Tweeddale, with whom he obtained the Barony of Biggar in Clydesdale. His grandson. Sir Malcolm Fleming, son of his eldest son, had charge of the young King David II. during his journey to France, and also attended him home, for which services King David created him Earl of Wigton. Beneath the shield is the motto of the same family, ''Let the deed shaw" which are the words said to have been uttered by Sir Robert Fleming to Robert Bruce, in extenuation of his having killed the Red Comyn. Some say the name of the place comes from the Gaelic beag tir, meaning " little land,"—where its application comes in is not evident,—but Sir Herbert Maxwell gives its derivation from the Norwegian bygg ga)^r, meaning barley field, and hence the sheaf of barley on the Seal. BLAIRGOWRIE

BLAIRGOWRIE was made a Burgh of Barony by a charter from King Charles I., dated 9th July 1634, in favour of George Drummond of Blair, the then proprietor of the estate of Blairgowrie. The town adopted the Lindsay Act in 1875, and under the Burgh Police Act of 1892 the Common Seal of the Burgh was designed by Mr John A. R. Macdonald, C.E. and architect,

Blairgowrie, to whom I am indebted for the following information regarding it. The centre consists of a very ornate shield or escutcheon divided into three divisions, each of which contains a device emblematic of different periods in the history of the town. In the left top division is a sheaf of wheat, which was the crest of the old family of Blair of Blair, now extinct. In the right top division is a nest of young ravens, which was the crest of the Drummonds of Blair. The lower division has a representation of the Brig o' Blair, or " Ye Brig o' Blair," which words appear below. This old "brig" was built about 1700 to supersede a boat which used to ply across the river at the Coble "pule" or pool between the hamlets of Blairgowrie and Rattray. The shield is surrounded with a spray of the leaves and the fruit of the strawberry, for the cultivation of which the town and district is famous. Below is the Gaelic motto, " Blilair gobliainn righ" meaning " the field of the king's smith," and from which the town has its name. Mr Macdonald, in his "History of Blairgowrie," gives the following account of the origin of the name: " Regarding the origin of Blairgowrie, and the derivation of the name, there have been suggested many definitions, but they are not very certain. The first half of the name be traced from the Celtic Blair, signifying battlefield the latter part, may a ; however, Gowrie, is difficult to trace. One derivation, according to the following tradition, if not certain, is at least plausible. The great valley of Strathmore was at one time a vast forest in which the kings of Scotland were wont to hunt. At intervals here and there in the forest were considerable patches of ground or crofts cultivated by woodmen, in the pay of the sovereign, to raise the crops necessary for —

THE TOWN COUNCIL SEALS OF SCOTLAND 35 the Court. These woodmen had also, when called upon, to attend the king during the chase, and join his bodyguard in the event of war. We are not informed who this Royal personage was, who, like the Gudeman o' Ballingeich, used to disguise himself in the chase so that he might better see the condition of his people. On one of these occasions, alone, save with an attendant and a pack of hounds, the king had got separated from the rest of the party, and, drawing near to one of the clearings from which they saw a column of smoke ascend, heard the sound of music. A nearer approach revealed to their astonished gaze the sprightly trippings of a lovely maiden dancing a reel to the spirit-enlivening music of the pibroch played by an old piper. The maid, not the least shy when she discovered the stranger gazing at her, told him to ' glower aye,' and the old piper, removing the chanter from his mouth, invited him to join in. Nothing loath the stranger accepted the invitation, perhaps not unwilling to be recognised. At the finish he politely asked the maiden's name, and with a captivating smile she muttered, though scarcely audible ' Gow.' Then the stranger, clasping her hand in his own, addressed the old

' ' piper, ' Thy name is Gow' and I am Righ,' and now

' This muir shall be my hunting-field ; This p'easant hen my queen shall be ;

Of twenty miles ye'l! get the yield ; An' be the laird of " Gow-an-Righ.'

field of the king's smith. Gow, a smith ; Rt'^/i, a king—Blairgowrie, the Another derivation, however, may be the more correct one. Blair, a battlefield ; and Gozvrie, a hollow, or between the hills —the battlefield in the hollow, probably so called from the battle of Mons Grampius reputed to have been fought in the valley between Knock-ma-har and the ridge along by the Heughs of Mause." BONNYRIGG

BONNYRIGG came under the provisions of the Lindsay Act in 1865, and under the Burgh Pohce Act of 1892 took as the Common Seal of the Burgh an adaptation from the Coat of Arms of Dundas of Arniston, which family is the superior. The Seal has in the centre a shield, with an ermine border, and bearing a lion rampant. The shield is supported by a lion and an elephant, both standing on a scroll. Above, as crest, on a scroll, is a sheaf of wheat, between two doves facing opposite ways. Beneath the shield is a salamander in flames of fire.

There is no motto. The lion is the Coat of Arms of the old family of Dundas of Dundas, and appears in the Arms of all branches of the family. Nisbet, in giving heraldic rules, says that "all creatures are presumed to be carried upon account of their noble and best

qualities ; as a lion for his magnanimity, and not for his rapacious nature," and he adds, " That magnanimous creatures ought to be represented in armories in their

fiercest position, as lions, boars, etc., rampant, that is, erected ; because then they are presumed to show strength." Further on, in his work, Nisbet, speaking of " the lion, remarks : For his heroic qualities he is used as the emblem of strength, courage, generosity, power and royalty, being called the king of beasts. His noble posture, or position in Arms, is, to be erect on his hinder feet, with his fore feet

towards the right side and upper angle of the .shield ; his head direct forward,

showing but one ear and one eye ; in which position as the best he is called by the French a Lion, but we, and the English, add the term ravipaiit"

The ermine, as is known, is an animal about the same size as a squirrel, the fur of which, white and studded with black tufts, is very valuable, and is worn by judges as an emblem of their dignity, for which reason it is used in various ways in heraldry. Marco Polo mentions that the audience tents of the Great Kaan were inside " all lined with ermine and sable, these two being the finest and most costly furs in existence." The supporters belong to the Coat of Arms of Dundas of Arniston, the lion belonging to the original Arms of Dundas, while the elephant is taken from the —

THE TOWN COUNCIL SEALS OF SCOTLAND 37

Coat of Arms of the Lords Oliphant, which were supported by two elephants. The elephant was taken as a supporter from the circumstance of James Dundas, the founder of the Arniston family, being a son of the then Dundas of Dundas by his second wife, Catherine, a daughter of Laurence, the third Lord Oliphant. The Oliphant who first adopted the elephants as supporters appears to have done so as a punning allusion to his own name. The sheaf of wheat and the doves allude to the fertility of the land round Bonnyrigg, and to the wooded nature of the country, among the trees of which the doves love to bill and coo.

The most interesting feature of this Seal, however, is the salamander, which belonged to the Arms of Dundas, and Sir George Mackenzie makes the following remarks in his "Science of Heraldry": "The laird of Dundas, whose achievement has for many hundreds of years stood upon the salamander in flames proper, a device of the kings of F"rance." Dr Brewer tells us that the badge of Francois L of France was "a lizard in the midst of flames," with the motto, Nutvisco et extmgiiOy meaning

" I nourish and extinguish," and he remarks that the Italian motto from which that motto was taken was Nudrisco el buono e sprengo il reo, alluding to the fact of fire

purifying good metal and consuming rubbish. But it is from Pliny that we derive the most marvellous accounts of this mythical creature. He says that many " creatures have a secret and mysterious origin, and he goes on : Thus, for instance,

the salamander, an animal like a lizard in shape, and with a body starred all over,

never comes out except during heavy showers, and disappears the moment it becomes fine. This animal is so intensely cold as to extinguish fire by its contact, in the same way as ice does. It spits forth a milky matter from its mouth, and whatever part of the human body is touched with this, all the hair falls off, and the part assumes the appearance of leprosy." But even Pliny himself, with all his credulity, does not appear to have believed in the power of the salamander to " " " extinguish fire, as, in another part of his Natural History he says : As to what

magicians say,'that it is proof against fire, being, as they tell us, the only animal

that has the property of extinguishing fire, if it had been true, it would have been made trial of at Rome long before this." Angelo de Gubernatis, in his " Zoological Mythology," says, with reference to Pliny's statement that hair falls off where

touched by its saliva, that "devoid of hairs itself it causes the hairs of others to fall out by means of its saliva, whence Martial, cursing the baldness of a woman's head

' Hoc salamandra caput, aut saeva novacula nudet.'"

" De Gubernatis adds : The salamander of popular superstition seems to me to represent the moon, which lights itself, which lives by its own fire, which has no rays or hairs of its own, but which makes the rays and hairs of the sun fall." Finally, I may mention that Brand, in his " Popular Antiquities," quotes from a book called the "Brief Natural History" as follows: "There is a vulgar error that a salamander lives in the fire. Yet both Galen Dioscorides refute this opinion and ; and Mathiolus, in his Commentaries upon Dioscorides, a very famous physician, affirms of them, that by casting of many a salamander into the fire for tryal, he 38 THE TOWN COUNCIL SEALS OF SCOTLAND

found it false. The same experiment is likewise avouched by Joubertus." In a foot-note the following extraordinary statement from " Anecdotes, Etc., Ancient and

Modern," by James Petit Andrews, is given : "Should a glass-house fire be kept up, without extinction, for a longer term than seven years, there is no doubt but that a salamander would be generated in the cinders. This very rational idea is much more generally credited than wise men would readily believe." The mineral substance known as asbestos (from the Greek asbestos, inconsum- able) is of a fibrous nature, and has been called salamander's wool. The fibres are

fine, long, and flexible, and easily separated, and among the ancients it was called amianthus, alluding to the fact that cloth made from it was easily cleaned by simply throwing it into the fire. There are several varieties, and now the name amianthus is usually applied to the finer and more silky kinds. BORROWSTOUNNESS OR BO'NESS

BO'NESS adopted the Lindsay Act in 1883. Formerly the parish was known by the name of Kinneil, which appears to have been derived from the Gaelic cinn fhaill, meaning " at the wall head," and in the neighbourhood there is a bank fifty feet above the sea level which forms the head or end of the wall. A separate parish, known as the parish of Borrowstounness, was at one time created, but it only existed for twenty years as a separate parish, and it and the parish of Kinneil were united to form the present parish of Borrowstounness. At one time, long before the present Bo'ness came into existence, there was a consider- ness, able town called Kinneil ; but when the former began to be formed at the owing to the increase of trade there, the population of Kinneil migrated thither, the town of Kinneil was,gradually demolished, and has now totally disappeared.

Bo'ness is a Burgh of Barony, the Barony of Kinneil having been granted by King Robert III. to James Hamilton. During the seventeenth century Bo'ness had a large trade with Holland and the Baltic ports, but as the English customs laws, introduced at the Union, proved a great restraint on the commerce of Scotland, the Scottish merchants began to trade with the colonies, which had been newly opened to them. By trading in tobacco and other colonial produce the merchants of Bo'ness acquired great wealth, and in the latter half of the eighteenth century Bo'ness was a thriving place, and was reckoned as the third port in Scotland. In 1680 a dispute commenced between Bo'ness and Blackness as to whether the former could be a port of entry as opposed to the latter. After a controversy of many years it was finally, in 17 13, settled in favour of Bo'ness, which was then declared to be a port for shipping. The original Seal of the Burgh was a primitive old galiot, and now, under the Burgh Police Act of 1892, the Common Seal shows a three-masted ship in full sail, with the motto "Sine metu" (Without fear), the whole referring to the shipping industry. 40 THE TOWN COUNCIL SEALS OF SCOTLAND

The name of Borrowstounness, contracted to Bo'ness, means the ness or prom- ontory belonging to a borough. Borrowstoun, at one time, according to Dr Jamieson, was a common name for a Royal burgh, and perhaps also for other burghs. We find Sir Walter Scott, in the "Antiquary," using the word in this sense: "And the wife, she maun get the scull on her back, and awa' wi' the fish to the next burrowstovvn." :

BRECHIN

BRECHIN was erected into a Royal Burgh by King Charles I. in 1641. Long previous to this, however, the Cathedral of Brechin was founded by King

David I. in 11 50, and was dedicated to the Holy Trinity. But tradition takes us further back still, and through it we are asked to believe that the ecclesi- astical foundation at Brechin was erected by Kenneth HI., King of the Scots, in some year between 967 and 991, and the ancient " Pictish Chronicle" says of him " This is he who gave the great city of Brechen to the Lord."

Brechin is situated upon the South Esk, and its name is supposed by some to be derived from the Gaelic breac ab/minn, meaning "spotted river"—that is, covered with flecks of foam. Others, again, think it likely that some individual called

Brachan, or Brychan, settled down at this place and gave it his name ; while .some " others derive it from the Gaelic Bruaichaun, meaning the top of a declivity." The patron saint of Brechin was St. Ninian, and the Seal of the Burgh bears his figure sitting in a Gothic porch. His right hand is raised in the attitude of blessing, while his left rests upon the top of a crucifix bearing the image of Christ. Below is a shield bearing three piles meeting at the points, which device was the of David de Brechin, which was Arms the Bishop of Brechin ; and on the Seal of appended to the Letter of the Scottish Barons to the Pope in 1320, there are three shields, of which the first bears these three piles. On each side of the shield is a Scotch thistle. Nisbet says that the pile has been given many meanings in armorial bearings.

Thus it may represent the ancient Roman weapon called the pilum, and it is a figure which might be given to generals who dispose their army in the form of a wedge.

Or it represents the wooden piles which form the foundations of buildings in marshy ground, and is thus a figure which can be given to those who found governments and societies. Sir George Mackenzie says that when three of these piles are used, they are intended to represent the three passion-nails, and were assumed by those who had returned from the Holy Land. One of these Crusaders was Robert, a 42 THE TOWN COUNCIL SEALS OF SCOTLAND natural son of David, Earl of Huntingdon, in England, and Earl of Garioch and Lord Brechin in Scotland, who, from the great slaughter he made among the Saracens, was surnamed Guishart, and from him are descended the families of the name of Wishart. Sir George Mackenzie gives the Arms of Wishart as argent, three passion- nails gules, meeting in point, and he says that the " chief of this name was Lord Brechin, whose succession failed in a daughter married with the old Earl of Angus." —

BRIDGE OF ALLAN

THIS picturesque little health resort adopted the Lindsay Act in 1870, and, under the Burgh Police Act of 1893, took for its Common Seal a repre-

sentation of the bridge from which it takes its name, with an omnibus, lamp- post, and house. The name Allan is derived from the Gaelic ailcan, a green or a plain, so the name means the bridge of the plain. Dr Chambers, in his " Picture of " " Scotland of 1827, says : The Bridge of Allan is everything a village ought to be

soft, sunny, warm ; a confusion of straw-roofed cottages, and rich massy trees, pos- sessed of a bridge and a mill, together with kailyards, bee-skeps, collies, callants, old inns with entertainment for man and beast ; carts with their poles pointing up to the sky ; venerable dames in drugget, knitting their stockings in the sun ; and young ones in gingham and dimity, tripping along with milk-pails on their heads." The town, with the advent of the railway, has lost much of its rural simplicity, but the numerous villas which now stud the landscape show that its health -giving qualities are appreciated in as great a degree as formerly. BROUGHTY FERRY

the eighteenth century Broiighty Ferry consisted of about half-a-dozen IN fishermen's huts, but about 1790 the proprietor began to feu the land, and

it rapidly became a town of considerable importance as a watering-place, and is now known as the Brighton of Dundee. It adopted the Lindsay Act in 1864, and, under the Burgh Police Act of 1892, took for its Common Seal a representation of Broughty Castle. This castle is said to have been built in 1498 by the third Lord Gray, and after the battle of Pinkie was held by an English garrison. The Regent Arran besieged it for three months, but without avail. Eventually, when a reinforcement arrived from France under the command of De Thermes, the castle was stormed on the 20th of February 1550, and not long after the English agreed to evacuate Scotland. This was the only occasion on which

Broughty Castle ever heard the sounds of war, and for long thereafter it remained in a dismantled condition. In 1855 the Government purchased it, and in i860 it was fortified as a defence to the Tay.

The name Broughty has received two interpretations. One derives it from the old Danish word borg, meaning a castle or a fort—thus the castle on the Tay, or possibly Burgh-Tay. The other takes it from the Gaelic bruacJi, the bank or the brink, and tabli, the ocean—thus, the brink of the ocean. The latter part of the name, of course, refers to the ferry which was formerly in use for communication between Dundee and Fife before the erection of the Tay Bridge. BUCKHAVEN, METHIL, AND INNERLEVEN

THESE three towns, which at no very distant date were three distinct com- munities, are now formed into one municipahty, and adopted the Lindsay Act in 1891. Under the Burgh Police Act of 1892 a Common Seal was designed.

In former days Buckhaven was a fishing village on the Fifeshire coast, but is now chiefly a mining centre. It is locally called Buckhyne, and is supposed to have been founded by the crew of a Brabant vessel which was wrecked there in 1555. The "Old Statistical Account" gives the following particulars regarding the original inhabitants of Buckhaven from a letter written by the Rev. Dr Harry Spens, minister of the parish of VVemyss, dated 20th August 1778: "As far as I have been able to learn, the original inhabitants of Buckhaven were from the Netherlands about the time of Philip II. Their vessel had been stranded on the shore. They proposed to settle and remain. The family of VVemyss gave them permission. They accordingly settled at Buckhaven. By degrees they acquired our language and adopted our dress, and for these threescore years past they have had the character of a sober and sensible, an industrious and honest, .set of people. The only singularity in their ancient customs that I remember to have heard of was that of a richly ornamented girdle or belt worn by their brides of good condition and character at their marriage, and then laid aside and given in like manner to the next bride that should be deemed worthy of such an honour." Methil exports coals, and Innerleven finds employment in flax mills. The Seal, therefore, to indicate all the above industries, shows a steamer, a fish, and the Latin words "Carbone carbasoque." Of these words, carbotie refers to the coal-mining and exporting industries. Carbasoque is compounded from the words carbasus, meaning very fine Spanish flax, and the conjunction que, and. Carbasus comes also to mean " a sail," and thus the three industries find very appropriate expression in these words. BUCKIE

BUCKIE, an important fishing town on the coast of Banffshire, adopted the Lindsay Act in 1888. As indicating the principal industry of the Burgh, viz., fishing, the Town Council, under the Burgh Police Act of 1892, adopted for a Common Seal the representation of a herring fishing boat surrounded by a cable. As all fishing boats require to be marked and numbered for registration purposes, the letters " B F " on the sail indicates that the boat belongs to the port of Banff, while the figures " i888," indicating the number of the boat, show the year of the formation of Buckie into a Burgh. BURGHEAD

BURGHEAD came under the provisions of the Burgh Police Act of 1892 in 1900, and, as required under that Act, a Common Seal was designed.

The design on the Seal carries one back to the days of the Romans ; to the days when the promontory upon which the town stands was used by that nation as one of their military stations, and which promontory has been identified as that called by Ptolemy Promontojitini Tauivdumwi, meaning Cape Bull-Town, or the Cape of the Bulls. The Seal bears in its lower part the figure of a bull, and above that a representation, as I am informed by the Town Clerk, of the burning of the Burghead Clavie, mentioned afterwards. The clavie is here placed on a rock on which is carved a bull. Round about are the words '' Proniontorium Taurodiinuvi, A.D. 150," this date being that of the year in which Ptolemy made his maps of Britain. At the time when the digging was in progress for the formation of the harbour about thirty small figures of bulls cut on stone were found. These stones had been much water-worn before the carvings were executed, and some of them were about a foot and a half long, a foot broad, and three inches thick, but they varied in these measurements. The carving out of the bull on them was of a very primitive type and showed great antiquity. What they were used for it is impossible to say with certainty, but some antiquarians allege that they were trophies, equivalent to our medals, which were carved by the Romans in commemoration of some signal victory. Others again look upon them, when taken in connection with an ancient well, and some ancient ceremonies in use at Burghead, as having a religious signifi- cance, bearing on the worship of Mithra as practised by the Romans. Before proceeding to deal with the worship of Mithra it may be better to first consider the well and these ceremonies.

The well has been cut out of the solid rock and is supplied with water from a " spring. Dr James Macdonald describes it in the " Antiquary for April 1892 thus: 48 THE TOWN COUNCIL SEALS OF SCOTLAND

" Descending into a hollow by a flight of twenty well-worn steps, most of them also hewn out of the solid rock, we come upon the reservoir. The dimensions of the

basin or piscina are as follows : Greatest breadth of the four sides, ten feet eight inches, feet, ten inches, ten feet seven inches eleven feet ten and respectively ; depth, four feet four inches. One part of the smooth bottom had been dug up at the time

of the excavations, either because it had projected above the rest, as if for someone

to stand upon, or because it was thought that by doing so the capacity of the well and perhaps the supply of the water would be increased. Between the basin and the perpendicular sides of the reservoir a small ledge of sandstone has been left about two feet six inches in breadth. These sides measure sixteen feet three inches, sixteen feet seven inches, sixteen feet nine inches, and seventeen feet respectively ; and the height from the ledge upwards is eleven feet nine inches. The angles, both of the basin and its rock walls, are well rounded. In one corner the sandstone has been left in the form of a semi-circular pedestal, measuring two feet nine inches by

one foot ten inches, and one foot two inches in height ; whilst in that diagonally opposite there is a circular hole five inches in diameter and one foot four inches in depth. From the ledge as you enter two steps of irregular shape and rude work- manship lead down into the basin. The sides of the reservoir are fissured and rent by displacement of the strata; and portions of the rock that have given way from

time to time have been replaced by modern masonry. The arched roof is also

modern." Dr Macdonald believes that it was anciently used as a baptistery, as Burghead was undoubtedly the site of an early Christian church. But, as will be shown further on, there is every reason to believe that long previous it had been the site of a Mithraic Temple, though probably at first the well had been excavated and legitimately used by the Roman garrison as a well pure and simple for supplying them with water. This well had been lost for many centuries, and only vague tradition recorded its existence, so, when a scarcity of water was felt during the carrying out of some improvements at the harbour in 1809, it was searched for and found.

Burghead is still the scene of an annual festival held on the last day of the year

(O.S.), known as the Burning of the Clavie. Mr J. M. Mackinlay in his "Folk-Lore " of Scottish Lochs and Springs," thus describes the ceremony : On the afternoon of the day in question careful preparations are made for the ceremony. A tar barrel is

sawn across, and of it the clavie is made. A pole of firwood is stuck through the barrel and held in its place by a large nail driven in by a stone, no hammer being used. The clavie is then filled with tar and pieces of wood. After dark these combustibles are kindled, according to ancient practice, by a burning peat from a neighbouring cottage. The clavie is then lifted by one of the men and carried through the village amid the applause of the inhabitants. Notwithstanding the risk from the burning tar the possession of the clavie, while on its pilgrimage, is eagerly coveted. In former times a stumble on the part of the bearer was counted unlucky for himself personally and for the village as a whole. After being borne about for

some time the still blazing clavie is placed on an adjacent mound called the Doorie, where a stone column was built some years ago for its accommodation. A hole in the top of the column receives the pole. There the clavie is allowed to burn for THE TOWN COUNCIL SEALS OF SCOTLAND 49 about half-an-hour, when it is thrown down the slope of the mound. The burning fragments are eagerly snatched up and carried away by the spectators. These fragments were formerly kept as charms to ensure good fortune to their possessors. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the Church discountenanced the burning of the clavie as idolatrous and sinful, and certain penalties were threatened against all who took part in it. The antiquity of the custom may be inferred from the fact that two hundred years ago it was called old. At that time lights were carried round the boats in the harbour, and certain other ceremonies were performed, all pointing to a pagan origin. Formerly the custom was in vogue, not only at Burg- head, but at most of the fishing villages along the Morayshire coast. The object in every case was the same, viz., the blessing of the boats to ensure a good fishing season."

There is at Burghead a tombstone which is built into the south east corner of the churchyard, called the Chapel Yard, which is locally known as the " Cradle- stone." For generations the children of Burghead have been accustomed to strike this stone with another stone, and this process has gone on so long that a cup-like smooth hollow, four inches wide and two-and-a-half inches deep, has been produced. Immediately on striking the stone they place their ear to the spot "when the sound of a rocking cradle, the crying of a child, and the crooning of an old woman hushing the child to sleep, are heard as if coming from a cavern deep underground." It is said that from time immemorial the children of Burghead have believed that all babies are found under this stone. Let us now see how these old customs and beliefs bear upon the worship of Mithra. Mithra was the highest of the second-class divinities of the ancient Persians, and his worship had at a very early period been brought to Europe by the Romans.

He is usually represented as a young man in eastern costume kneeling on one knee on a prostrate bull, whose head he is pulling back with the left hand, while with his right he plunges a sword into its neck. Mithra was the lord of wide pastures and of the heavenly li^ht ; he was the sun-god, the sun or fire itself, and the sacrifice of the bull to him was the chief feature of his worship. The ideal of the ancient Aryan was to increase the number of his cows and to render them fruitful in milk and prolific in calves, and thus the bull, the fcccimdator, was considered "the type of every male perfection and the symbol of regal strength." In the Persian cosmogony the bull was one of the first of created existences, and Mithra sacrificing the bull is the solar hero (the sun) sacrificing himself in the evening {i.e., the sun setting and leaving the world in darkness). It has been asserted that Mithraism was the most widespread religious cult in the Roman Empire for several centuries after the birth of Christ, and the Roman soldiers brought it into Scotland. But the early Christians opposed it vigorously, and consequently its worship had to be carried on in secret, and in underground caverns where there was water. Here then we have the theory that the well at Burghead was one of the caverns where these mystic rites were performed by the Roman soldiery. This view is strengthened by the ceremony of the burning of the clavie, a relic of the fire worship of the Persians, which, taken along with the myth of the cradle-stone, had the object in view of increasing the fruitfulness or prosperity of the place. Possibly the bull-stones were symbolic :

50 THE TOWN COUNCIL SEALS OF SCOTLAND offerings to Mithra in place of sacrificing live bulls. Pliny tells us that the Druids sacrificed two white bulls at the cutting of the mistletoe, offering up prayers that this gift would be propitious, and they believed that the mistletoe taken in drink, having been cut along with the sacrifice, would impart fecundity to all animals that were barren. In this ceremony was the worship of a creative power. In after times the bull itself was not sacrificed, but what was known as the oblation of the white bull was made, but what this oblation consisted of is unknown. Dr Arthur Mitchell in the " Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, Scotland," Vol. X., gives the following account of the incomplete sacrifice of a bull at the shrine of a Christian saint " Among the lands with which the sacrist's office (of the Abbey of Bury St. Edmund, Suffolk) was endowed, were those of Haberdon, the tenants of which were bound to provide a white bull as often as any matron of rank or other female should come, out of devotion, to make what were called the oblations of the white bull at the shrine of St. Edmund. On this occasion the animal, adorned with ribbons and garlands, was brought to the south gate of the monastery and led along Church Gate, Guildhall, and Abbey Gate Streets to the great west gate, the lady all the time keeping close to the animal. Here the procession ended. The bull was returned to its pasture, and the lady made her offerings at the shrine in hope of becoming a mother." About the year 880 the Norsemen built a borg, or fort, on the promontory here, the fortifications of which are known as the Baileys or Baillies, and it is from this fort, or " borg," that the modern name of Burghead has been derived. —

BURNTISLAND

BURNTISLAND is popularly supposed to have obtained the name from the burning of some fishermen's huts on an islet to the west of the harbour, which caused the fishermen to settle on the mainland. Sibbald gives the following : " Brave ancient Isle, thy praise if I should sing, The habitation of a Pictish King Drustus, who made against the Roman strokes, Forth's snakie arms thee to inclose with rocks. They often press'd to vanquish thee v/hh/ire.

As Macedon did the sea embordered Tyre : And thou did'st scorn Rome's captive for to be, And kept thyself from Roman legions free."

He adds that this is the mere fancy of the rustic poet, unsupported by record or tradition. The Seal of the Burgh bears the legend Sigilhim Burgi de Bruntisland. This, however, is clearly a corruption, as the place was anciently called Bartland, Bertiland, or Bryntiland. At one time the town belonged to the Abbey of Dunfermline, and was exchanged for some neighbouring lands by King James V. in 1541, so that he might erect it into a Royal Burgh, and its charter of erection bears that date. The Seal shows a three-masted vessel on the sea with sails furled and flags flying, and two mariners on board. This naturally indicates that Burntisland is a

it seaport ; and it was once considered to be the best on the Firth of Forth, as was large, easily entered, and well sheltered. On account of this excellence it is called in some of the town's charters Partus Gratia' and Partus salutis. The reverse of the Seal represents a fish within the legend " Success to the Herring Fishing," but the Common Seal of the Town Council bears only the ship. Until the northern fishing stations were opened Burntisland was the principal rendezvous for the herring fishers, but the curing of herrings has now been discontinued for many years.